What we've learnt about the human upper respiratory airways

Alberto Gambaruto
High Performance Computational Mechanics
Computer Applications in Science and Engineering
Barcelona Supercomputing Centre
Barcelona, Spain


Abstract:

The physiological functions of the upper respiratory airways are numerous: heat and humidity exchange, filtering particle suspensions, olfaction, and of course the transport of air to/from the lungs. In this presentation, the upper human airways are explored through numerical simulations, with an interest in understanding how the physiological functions are effected. The morphology of the passages is complex, especially in the nasal cavity, and a brief discussion on this topic is also provided.